


Soul-late

by Rionaa



Series: We'll Have To Make It On Our Own [1]
Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Frerard, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 10:29:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4603386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rionaa/pseuds/Rionaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank met his soulmate when he wasn't looking and missed his chance. Now all he wants is to get rid of the reminder of his mistake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soul-late

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for the title haha. Who the fuck thought titles were a good idea anyway.

Frank sighed and scratched at his wrist absentmindedly. He winced as the timer caught at his flesh buy avoided looking at it. He was getting good at avoiding looking at it.

***

Gerard lay face down on his bed, head buried in his pillow, holding his breath and trying to stop the sobs that were wracking his body. He was aware of his timer beeping softly, but it brought him no comfort.

***

Frank heard his name called and stood up from the uncomfortable hospital chair. He walked carefully to the door being held open by a cheerful looking nurse and passed through. The doctor looked up as he entered and gestured to a vacant chair opposite him. Frank took it.

"So, you're here for timer surgery, yes?"

Frank nodded. 

"May I ask why you have opted for this?"

"I missed them." Frank's voice was cracked from misuse. "I missed meeting my soulmate."

The doctor nodded, frowning sadly. "You are aware of the options henceforth I take it?"

Frank nodded again, but the doctor continued anyway.

"You can have it silenced, but keep it on, you can have it reset, or..." He hesitated for a moment. "You can have it removed."

"I..." Frank hesitated. "I want it removed."

"Are you sure? There are risks involved as I'm sure you know..."

"I dont care. I want it out."

"Very well. I'll make an appointment for you to come in sometime soon, next week maybe? There'll be forms to sign and so on, but that can all be sorted at a later date."

Frank nodded, stood up and left.

***

Gerard turned over so he was facing the ceiling. The tears had stopped but his body still shook. The timer's beeping was more faint now. Perhaps it knew there was no hope. Perhaps he simply didn't care anymore. But Gerard knew that wasn't true. He did care.

He remembered the mounting excitement as he had entered the bar where the band was playing. His brother Mikey had heard of a new band: Pencey Prep, that was playing that evening and had dragged Gerard along.

The instant he had agreed to go, Gerard's timer had flashed into life.

"Gee, we gotta go!" Mikey had knocked on the bathroom door where Gerard had been, sat on the side of the bath, staring in wonder at the device on his wrist. He'd always considered it kind of a joke, he'd got his fitted as a dare at a party but never even thought it could actually work.

"Gee, come on!"

"I, uh..."

"What's wrong?" Mikey had sounded concerned.

"Nothing!" When Gerard opened the door and showed Mikey his timer, Mikey had looked like a small child at Christmas.

"Wow! That's... That's gonna be at the concert! Wow, whoever it is, they've got a great taste in music!"

"Yeah!" Gerard tried to pretend he wasn't terrified.

When they had arrived at the bar, Gerard was actually shaking. 

Forty two minutes and eleven seconds.

Mikey bought Gerard a beer. Even though he was underage, the man at the bar didn't seem to notice or care.

Gerard downed the drink, them bough another.

The band came onstage. The singer, a short punk boy who Mikey said was called Frank Iero spoke into the microphone introducing the band, then they began to play.

The band played for thirty minutes then there was a break. Gerard drank two more beers and ordered a large gin and tonic.

He knew it was a bad idea to drink so much, but the stress of knowing what was coming was too much. 

Mikey had moved away from him and was talking to a girl at the other end of the bar.

A few people approached him and offered to buy him a drink. He accepted all offers.

At one point he thought he was speaking to someone from the band, but by that time he was too inebriated to notice or care.

When he woke up on the bathroom floor in his flat with Mikey beside him looking tired and shocked, Gerard began to cry.

***

Frank's heartbeat quickened as he walked along the hospital corridor to the waiting room. This was almost worse than it had been preparing for the concert that night.

He had known he was going to meet his soulmate that night.

He should have been more careful.

He shouldn't have spent the night talking to so many people, not keeping an eye on his timer.

He had woken up in someone else's bed the next morning, but when he woke up their timer was still ticking, while his own had stopped.

***

"Gee?" He heard Mikey call his name from outside the bedroom door.

"Go away." He muttered into his pillow.

"Gee, please come out!"

"No!"

"I'm coming in then." He heard the door open, then felt the bed dip as his brother sat beside him.

"Go away!" He repeated. He heard Mikey sigh them felt a hand on his back, rubbing small circles.

"I know you're feeling awful right now..."

"You don't know shit."

"I guess not, but you know you can do something about it."

"Oh yeah, like what?"

"You can have correcting surgery, you get it removed or reset..."

"What's the point? They didn't care enough to notice last time we met, why would they care about me this time?"

"Maybe they..." Mikey hesitated, seemingly unable to think of an excuse.

"Exactly." Gerard spat, before burying his face in the pillow again.

"Removal then, you can have it removed..."

"Oh yeah, and then what? Watch as everyone else makes their own lives with their soulmates, happy because they didn't miss each other in a fucking bar!"

"Not everyone has a timer you know. Not everyone even has a soulmate, but that doesn't mean you can't fall in love! The timers, they dont dictate love."

"No... But people fall in love because of them. The timers are stupid. I'll get mine removed."

"Good plan." Mikey nodded then stood up. "I can run you down to the hospital to make an appointment tomorrow if you'd like."

"Thanks."

Mikey left.

***

Frank looked down at the thing on his wrist for the last time. He couldn't remember a time when he hadn't had it, but now it was to be taken from him. He wouldn't miss it.

He had signed a form giving his consent for the surgery, and was now waiting to be taken into theatre. 

A nurse entered the room. She was pretty and she said she liked his band. She didn't have a timer. Maybe after the surgery...

"We're ready for you in theatre, Mr Iero!"

He nodded and gritted his teeth as he was wheeled away.

***

Gerard sat with Mikey in the hospital waiting room. Mikey looked at his brother every few moments, but Gerard kept his gaze fixed firmly on the floor.

"Gerard Way?" He stood up slowly. Mikey squeezes his fingers briefly before letting go, allowing Gerard to walk into the doctor's office.

"I want my timer removed." Gerard said without preamble.

The doctor raised his eyebrows. "Have you thoroughly considered the other options?"

"Yes, and I want it out."

"Alright, I can make an arrangement for you to have removal surgery. There are risks involved, but we can go over that at a later date."

***

When Frank woke up his gaze turned immediately to his wrist. In place of his timer there were bandages wrapping round his arm.

Then he frowned. The bandages seemed bulkier than they should have been.

"Hey..." He croaked.

A nurse turned towards the bed, a different one, one he didn't recognise.

"Mr Iero. You're awake."

"Why haven't they removed it? Why have I still got it?"

She frowned, looking momentarily bewildered until he raised his arm to indicate the bandages covering it.

"Oh. Let me get your doctor, he should be able to explain it better than me..." She left, leaving Frank thinking what a useless nurse she was.

"Mr Iero." He looked up as a doctor entered the room.

"Why's it still on my wrist?" He asked immediately.

 

"During surgery there were some unexpected problems..."

"What do you mean? Am I going to be stuck with this useless thing forever?"

"No, quite the opposite. We can still go ahead with the removal surgery, make another attempt, but I thought you might want to change your mind when informed of what happened."

"What happened?" Frank echoed, angrily.

"Your timer restarted."

***

Gerard and Mikey were sitting side by side on the floor playing video games in Gerard's flat when a quiet "beep" sounded.

"Did you have something in the microwave?" Mikey asked, frowning.

"I dont think so." Gerard stood up to check.

As he raised his arm to open the kitchen door, something caught his eye that made him shriek.

"Mikey!"

His brother was at his side instantly. "What's happened?"

"My timer!" Both brothers looked down at the device on Gerard's wrist.

"It must have gone wrong. It must be faulty! You haven't had it restarted! Have you?"

Gerard shook his head numbly.

"Come on, we're going back to the hospital."

"Why?"

"To get this checked out!"

"Okay, okay." Mikey practically pulled Gerard out to the car.

***

The doctor removed Frank's bandages, saying they were only there to keep him calm while he woke up.

"We're going to keep you in for observation for a couple of hours, then you're free to go."

Frank stared down at the timer on his wrist. Four hours, twelve minutes and fifty one seconds.

Perhaps Frank would meet his soulmate in the hospital. His mind was temporarily filled with images of the pretty nurse who liked his band.

Almost immediately he was filled with fear.

What if they were a patient?

What if they were ill or injured?

What if they were dying?

The pretty nurse walked in, smiling, and his heart sank. It couldn't be her. They'd already met.

"Doctor says you're good to go!" She announced. He frowned. Had it really been that long? He checked his timer again. Fifty four minutes, thirty seconds.

He stood up and followed the nurse out of the room.

***

Mikey pulled up outside the hospital and looked over at his brother. Gerard was shaking.

"Come on, we're there."

Gerard nodded and slowly pulled himself out of the car. Mikey followed him, concerned for how pale Gerard looked. His usually white complexion was now a kind of grey colour. The doors to the hospital opened and Mikey steered Gerard to the front desk.

***

Frank was a bundle of nerves. He was pacing up and down the hospital lobby, looking down at his timer every few moments. 

Four minutes, three seconds.

Frank ran to the bathroom.

After relieving himself he splashed water on his face and stared at himself in the mirror. 

He looked scared.

Grabbing a paper towel, he dried his face, then glanced at his watch again. 

Fifty eight seconds.

Shit.

Frank tore out of the bathroom and back towards the lobby, and the exit. He didn't want to meet his soulmate hanging around a hospital. No way.

***

As Gerard stepped through the automatic doors, two things happened at once.

The first was the most startling.

Something like a human tornado came barrelling into his chest, knocking him flying backwards.

Gerard rolled as he hit the tarmac, then scrambled to his feet, panting as he started down at the man - boy, really, who had crashed into him.

"What the hell are you doing?" He almost shouted.

Then he became aware of the second thing.

The incessant beeping sound issuing from both of their timers.

***

Frank looked down at his own wrist, then back up at the other boy's shocked face.

The stranger - his soulmate - wordlessly held out a hand. Frank took it and got to his feet.

"Gerard?" It was only when he spoke that Frank noticed there was someone else there as well. He realised that that must be the name of the man before him: Gerard. It sounded pleasant.

"No." Gerard spoke softly to the boy behind him. His face was still turned toward Frank.

Frank opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.

Fortunately he didn't need to think about speaking anymore because Gerard leaned in and pressed his lips to Frank's.

***

When the hospital phoned with a time for Gerard's removal operation he didn't hear it. He was a little too busy with Frank and right now, that was the only thing that mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> Please review! If you have an idea you want written, comment below and I'll write it! I'm really bored...


End file.
